


Anyways, Don't be a Stranger

by littlebasingse



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Republic City, Sokka is Suyin's father, Sokka is sad, Tokka - Freeform, little bit sad, old sokka, old toph, suki is dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26567053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebasingse/pseuds/littlebasingse
Summary: It's been a long time since the glory days of Aang's team Avatar. The group has been scattered across the four nations for decades now, and in-person meetings are a rarity. Aang, Katara, Zuko, and even Toph have their own families now. What does Sokka have? It's been over a decade since Suki died, and Sokka feels more lost than ever. There's only one other person in Republic City that he can turn to.This is a conversation between Toph and Sokka at a small tea shop in Republic City as they try to reconnect and navigate their adult lives.
Relationships: Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 5
Kudos: 41





	Anyways, Don't be a Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after the flashback to Toph, Suyin & Lin in Book 3 of Legend of Korra. Toph and Sokka are 40-50ish.

“Hey! Long time no see!”  
No, that’s not right. Too informal. Too childish.  
“Hey, Chief!”  
Oh, come on. You can’t say that.  
“Do my eyes deceive me? The Blind bandit, in the flesh?”  
Sokka smiled a bit at his own joke. Sitting on a stiff chair in a Republic City tea shop overlooking the waters of Yue Bay, it was hard to feel at ease. No matter what he said when he saw her, there was no way to break through the tension with a few simple words. It would take work to get back to where they started, if they could even get to that point of friendship again. He hadn’t spoken to her in months, and before then they hardly exchanged more than pleasantries. 

It wasn’t like there was some huge falling out or anything.  
They were just getting old.  
Things fall apart.

But Sokka could sense that things needed to fall back together, for both of their sakes. Maybe seeing her in person would make him feel like he did the day they met all those years ago. At fifteen years old, Sokka thought he knew everything. Granted, he had experienced more than your average Water Tribe chump. He’d known love and loss better than any teenager should have to. 

But things were different then. The world was different. His path was clearer. Protect your sister. Protect the Avatar. Protect your friends. Protect your girlfriend. Protect your family.  
In many ways, life was much easier now. Republic City was a bustling city with anything you could possibly want to do. Little Ba Sing Se Fashion Mall had enough fancy things that you could shop to your heart’s content. The metal benders kept the city safe, so Sokka didn’t have to sleep with one eye open anymore. World-class tea shops, like the one he was in at that moment, were everywhere in the city. The tea here was alright, but once you’ve been to the Jasmine Dragon, every other cup is just hot leaf juice to your taste buds.  
Sokka tried to remember why he picked this place as a meeting spot. He never quite liked this tea shop. The drinks were always a little too cold, and the pastries undercooked. It was too bright, and the paintings on the walls were too perfect. Its location near the water let in a chilled breeze that reminded him of home.  
Oh, yeah. That’s why.

Sokka visited the Southern Water Tribe when he could get time off of work, but being a politician in Republic City was a pretty demanding job. There was always something for someone to complain about. He loved visiting his sister and her children, but things always ended bittersweet. He tried to convince himself he was happy with his life. A great job, a great apartment. Making a difference in a new city. Setting the foundation of history for future generations.  
But something was always missing.

When the city was first founded, Sokka found it comforting to stare out at Yue Bay and let the salty air brush against his cheeks. It made him feel closer to the fifteen-year-old he used to be, young and in love with the girl who would become the moon and then in love with the warrior girl who made him feel whole. With her around, Sokka always belonged. They were a team, taking on the brave new world together.

These days, the winds of the bay just reminded him of all he’d lost.  
He tried not to think of her much these days. It hurt too much.  
But here, in the city where they lived their lives together, it was impossible to avoid. Every morning he walked past a place where they had made a memory together.  
Their first apartment. Their favorite restaurant. The corner where she fought off some gang members who saw her headdress as a financial opportunity. The steps where she kissed his cheek, leaving a red smear that he left on for the entire council meeting.  
The last place they kissed. The park where he spent most afternoons in the months following her death. The streets he walked, alone.  
The apartment he shared with no one.  
The closet full of her clothes that he couldn’t bear to open.

Oh, Suki.  
I spent so much time envisioning our future together.  
And now that you’re gone, it feels like I don’t have one anymore.

Sokka didn’t even know how to talk to anyone anymore. Everyone knew him for his sense of humor, even in the direst of times - and what could he say, he was hilarious. But he didn’t quite feel like joking around these days. He could see it in their eyes, hear it in their voices when they spoke to him. He wasn’t as good at hiding his feelings as he used to be. Everyone knew his grief, and they treated him like a combustion bender about to blow. 

There had been a few other women in the years since Suki, but none really stuck. He and the Kyoshi Warrior had been together for the majority of their lives - they knew everything about each other, and Sokka thrived in the comfort. Starting over with someone brand new, who didn’t know him at all… it always just felt wrong. No one knew how to act around him, and he didn’t know how to act around them either.  
He didn’t blame them for how they acted. He knew they were trying to help.  
But it didn’t.  
Above all, he hoped Toph would be honest with him. Her signature no-nonsense truth-telling was what he really needed right now. A little bit of normalcy, though that hadn’t been his normal in years. 

Nowadays, everything he knew about his old friends came from hearsay.  
“The Avatar’s in Ba Sing Se!”  
“Fire Lord Zuko is stepping down!”  
“Chief Beifong is pregnant!”

He and his sister Katara made sure to stay in contact, writing letters on a weekly basis. But there’s only so much you can communicate through scribbling on paper.  
They had accomplished all they set out to as kids. Save the Southern Water Tribe? Check. Katara was currently raising three kids there. Protect the Avatar? Check. Aang was alive and well, traveling the world. Bringing balance.

What had Sokka set out to do? Protect his sister. Well, check. Fall in love? Did it. Loved her and lost her.  
There was something strange about living in the future. You never know where to go next. Neither he nor his friends were the same as how they used to be. Aang wasn’t the bouncy twelve-year-old he found in an iceberg anymore. Katara wasn’t his kid sister, running around stealing water bending scrolls. Zuko was still awkward and headstrong, but he was wiser than he used to be. More thoughtful. More careful. And Toph… Toph was unrecognizable from the young rebel Sokka had met long ago.  
She wasn’t Toph anymore, really. She was Chief Beifong.

Even when she was younger, Toph had always seemed like more of an entity than a real person. She was larger than life.  
It had been strange for Sokka, someone who had begun to understand and connect with her, to watch the transformation from the Blind Bandit to Chief Beifong, head of the Republic City police.  
Perhaps they were both just a little bit lost on their journey into history books. 

Sokka had always preferred to dress simply, but these days in Republic City his usual Water Tribe regalia felt like a political statement. As a part of the United Republic, a nation with no loyalty to any specific element, Republic City had begun to develop its own style and clothing trends. The world was entering a new era, and somehow Sokka found himself left behind. People walked past him on the street and he stood out like a sore thumb. He looked old, and his clothes were dated.  
No matter how many styles evolved and changed, there was one thing Sokka refused to update. His trusty boomerang was always at his side, even though he hadn’t seen battle in years. It was a reminder of who he used to be. 

Now that Suki was gone, Sokka was living for someone new. He was living for his fifteen-year-old self, who he was sure would be sorely disappointed in how things panned out.  
Today was the first step in fixing things. He was early, of course, for his meeting with his old friend Toph Beifong, but he didn’t have anywhere else to be. He had been anxiously anticipating this moment since he had reached out to set a date. He hadn’t spoken to Toph directly, of course - she had a busy schedule - but her assistant assured him that she’d be at this exact location, fifteen minutes from now.  
Sokka had tried to plan things out, to design the conversation like it was a submarine, but he didn’t even know what he wanted to say.  
“Hi, how are you, I miss you.”  
“Hey, I don’t remember what happiness feels like, could you remind me?”  
“Are you okay? Because I’m not okay and if we’re both not okay can we at least be not okay together?”  
“Hi! Everyone else has their life figured out, and I thought I did, but then I lost the person I was going to spend my life with. What do I do now?”

Sokka sighed, gazing out at the harbor. Boats were coming and going from everywhere now. If he wanted, he could hop on one and be home in the Southern Water Tribe by tomorrow.  
Was that even his home anymore? He’d lived in Republic City for decades longer than he spent in either Water Tribe. For most of his life, his true home was wherever he was with his friends and family. Team Avatar was his home, but now everyone was floating adrift, and his ice was melting.  
How do I reconnect? 

Unbeknownst to Sokka, he had lost himself in thought while gazing into Yue Bay, and fifteen minutes had passed. With a jingle as the door at the front of the tea shop opened and closed, Toph was standing right there, in front of him.  
“Toph!” he exclaimed, his voice full of nerves and excitement.  
She looked startled.  
“Sokka, hi,” Toph replied in her comforting monotone, masking surprise.  
Toph’s look had changed a lot from when she was the little kid Sokka traveled the world with. She used to dress freely, always covered in a layer of grime and in some loose-fitting garment. Now, she was rarely seen in anything other than her Republic City police uniform, which wrapped tightly around her torso and made her look regal. Or, at least, Sokka thought she looked regal - to most of the city, it made her seem intimidating, ready to strike at any moment, so they had better stay in line. How had the infamous blind bandit turned into the most feared rule-enforcer, Chief Beifong of Republic City?  
How had the carefree girl Sokka knew turned into a cold mother of two with the weight of the world on her back?

“Um, please, sit down. It’s nice to see you.” Sokka said, trying to save face as he stood to pull out a chair for her. The table he had picked was nestled against one of the large windows in the front of the shop, overlooking the sea. Toph silently took the seat across from him, being careful not to accidentally brush an arm against Sokka or initiate contact with him in any way.  
Things were weird, and they had been that way for a while; ever since that strange night spent together all those years ago.

A tired-looking waiter at the tea shop trudged up to the duo after Toph sat down. The kid couldn’t have been older than seventeen, and he’d been watching Sokka from the corner ever since he sat down, waiting for Toph to arrive so that he could take their order and get back to his sulking.  
“What can I get you? We have any variety of tea you could think of, from the Island of Kyoshi to the icebergs of the Southern Water Tribe, plus some pastries if you want something more savory,” the waiter announced, obviously reciting a required script.  
“Uh, surprise me?” Sokka said, his mind a million miles away from thoughts of tea.  
The waiter nodded and turned towards Toph.  
“And you, miss?”  
Toph smiled warmly in a way that Sokka had forgotten she was even capable of.  
“I’ll take jasmine.”  
The waiter nodded and walked away gladly.

“So,” Sokka said, trying to break the odd silence that had fallen between the two old friends.  
“How are things?”  
Toph shuffled in her chair, anxiously fiddling with her fingers on the table.  
“They’re fine. How about you? How’s it going, running the whole city and all?  
Sokka let out a relieved laugh and smiled.  
“You know, there’s always something someone else hates in Republic City. I’m never bored. It’s good to have things to fill the time. How are things with the police?” He said, pausing with a sly grin as he plotted his next move.  
“Chief?” Sokka winked softly, hoping the unpleasantness would end and they could get back to the playful banter and repertoire that they used to have.  
Toph groaned and crossed her arms as she sunk into her chair, blowing away a piece of hair that was tickling her nose.  
“I can’t believe everyone actually calls me that now. At first, it was flattering, but now… jeez, even to my daughters I’m always ‘Chief Beifong.’ I’m not sure that Lin even knows my real name anymore.”  
Toph smiled softly, slowly letting her guard down in a way that Sokka had only ever seen once before. He could feel himself relax as well, taking comfort in the company of someone who really, truly, knew him.  
He laughed brightly and slouched into the table.

“So, how are the girls? Is Lin still fixated on becoming a tiny version of you?”  
“-and is Su still nothing but trouble? Yes, and yes. My bundles of joy.”  
Toph finished Sokka’s sentence, huffing sarcastically.  
He smiled again, bathing in the warmth of the friendly conversation, long overdue. He had smiled more in fifteen minutes than he had in the past fifteen years. It was good to have a friend again.  
“Oh, I’m sure it’s not all that bad. You’re lucky, I always wanted kids, but…”  
Sokka trailed off, caught off guard after realizing what he had just said. 

The waiter walked up to them, shakily carrying two cups of tea on a dark wooden tray, saving Sokka and Toph from the painful conversation that was pending.  
“Here you go, sir. Our famous oolong tea, inspired by the flora and fauna of Kyoshi Island, home to Avatar Kyoshi. It’s very popular, I recommend adding a cube of sugar if you prefer a sweeter taste-”  
Sokka was already shoveling sugar cubes into his piping cup of dark tea. He gave the waiter an awkward thumbs up as he moved on to Toph’s drink.  
“Uh, and for you, our house jasmine blend. I hope you enjoy it.” The waiter added awkwardly as he placed Toph’s cup in front of her and bowed before hurrying away. Even a stranger could pick up on the newly hostile energy of the conversation.

Sokka stirred his tea intently, trying to look at anything other than the woman in front of him that he used to know so well. She couldn’t see, so she was interested in none of this tomfoolery.  
“Sokka, it’s been over a decade now. Are you still stuck in that moment? I… I’m really sorry, I know what it feels like to lose someone. But, come on. If she saw you right now, would she be happy for you?”  
And there it was. What Sokka had known deep down for years now, but hadn’t been able to drum up the energy to change. Suki would be disappointed in him.  
Maybe not entirely disappointed, but sad. Very sad.

This was the whole reason he’d wanted to meet with Toph in the first place. The honesty of someone who had been with him through some of his best and worst years was what he thought he needed, but at that moment his instincts told him to lash out against one of his oldest friends.  
“Oh, you’re one to talk.”  
Sokka quipped, bitterness deep in his voice.  
Toph scoffed, strangely hesitant.  
“At least I’ve made peace with my life decisions, Sokka. What happened with Kanto, and with…” 

She paused for a second, contemplating something that seemed painful. For a second, Sokka thought it looked like Toph was moving to wipe a tear, but instead she picked up her cup of tea and took a long sip. For once, Toph was the calm one. She gave a tiny shake of her head and continued her thought as Sokka tried to navigate his own thoughts and feelings from across the table.  
“What happened with Kanto, and with Suyin’s father. I made my decisions, and here I am. I have to make peace with that. There’s no use in dwelling in the past, it’s not productive for anyone.”  
Sokka knew that she said it with wisdom, and he could feel in her voice that she was speaking to him as a last resort. He knew that Toph meant well, and something about the shakiness in her voice told him that she might understand what he was going through a little more than he had previously thought. Toph always seemed like the perfect Police Chief. She was independent, raising two daughters from two different fathers, entirely by herself. She was crushing crime in Republic City, and when she walked down the street you could feel the hush that came across every bystander. The whole world respected her, and some even feared her. Toph Beifong was someone who could do no wrong, a far cry from the barefoot runaway that terrorized Fire Nation towns at age twelve.

Sokka feared that he, like everyone else, had begun to see her as something unreal and untouchable. Someone whose feelings were never hurt, who never wanted for things, who never felt unloved. Someone who never gave a care about what anyone else thought of her.  
But Toph wasn’t a mystery or a legend. She wasn’t perfect.  
She was just another person, and maybe she was hurting too.

“Are you really happy with your life though, Toph? You don’t ever feel, I don't know… alone? You don’t miss how things used to be?”  
Sokka’s voice was breaking as he leaned into the table, his hands curling into fists against the wood.  
“Of course I do, Sokka! We all do!”  
She was exasperated.  
“Everyone misses their glory days. I know you miss Suki. I…”  
Toph trailed off, sinking back into her chair.  
Neither of them knew what to do.

“You know, the last time we were all together was for her funeral on Kyoshi Island.” Sokka said it softly, relaxing his arms to fiddle lightly with his facial hair. It was so long since he’d been able to say it aloud without retreating into himself. Even with his sister, who he had always been the closest to, it was hard to speak of. It had been over sixteen years since Suki’s death, but it still felt like admitting defeat to talk about.  
Toph was silent.

“I visit Katara and the kids sometimes, but Aang travels a lot. I haven’t seen him in a few years. Zuko… has his own family now. I can’t even remember the last time we were in the same room. And you… Toph, we live in the same city, and the last time we actually talked like this was…”  
He sighed, a weight removed from his shoulders. He and Toph had never spoken of what happened between them that night, and he supposed they never would. It felt like a conversation too intimate for the small tea shop they sat in. Sokka had been gazing out at the water, but he turned his eyes to Toph.  
He had always thought of her as someone with such a hard exterior, accentuated by her police uniform that was literally made of metal. But now, looking into her light eyes, it felt like seeing her for the first time. Her skin was soft and looked like it would be cool to touch. Her cheeks had a light blush to them, framed perfectly by her soft, long black bangs.  
Sokka was starting to see the Toph Beifong he knew again. Somewhere in the Chief’s face was the goofy, passionate, and honest person that he knew.

“I haven’t seen anyone except you in… a decade? I haven’t even been on a date since Su was born.”  
Toph said, slowly and sadly. This was a new side to her honesty. Usually, the truth only sat in her words, with her voice betraying no real emotion. But here she was, in front of him, more real than ever.

Sokka wanted to feel comforted, knowing that she was breaking down her walls for him, that she felt even a little bit similar to how he did, but it felt like someone had ripped through his entire being to realize that his friend was in pain. 

“Raising the girls hasn’t been easy,” she started, wringing her head in her hands. “Everything I do is wrong. I’m so afraid that… that Lin and Su think of me the same way I think of my mother. That they’ll leave me and resent me forever.”

There weren't tears in her eyes. Even now, Chief Beifong held them back, so perhaps to the passerby, the conversation would seem heated at most. Sokka wondered if Toph even remembered what it felt like to completely let her guard down. He reached out slowly and took her hand in his from across the table. She pulled back, at first. It was instinct at this point.  
“I tried, Sokka. I really tried. I wanted things to be different for them, I wanted…”  
She let out a very deep sigh and finally allowed Sokka to take her hand.  
“It doesn’t matter what I wanted, does it? I have to do what’s best for my girls.”  
Toph smiled sadly from the corner of her mouth.  
“You can tell me anything. I may not have any experience raising kids, but I did manage to save your life a few times when we were traveling around with Aang,” Sokka said with a quiet laugh.

“Please, Toph. Talk to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to wallow in your sadness, might I recommend a playlist?
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vEeyDSNFkOQ8hj1UyagTx?si=y7asxa-0SJiy46x7svmS8Q


End file.
